Consumers who wish to track their expenses and other financial transactions in today's world, for example, to maintain a budget, face quite a challenge. Particularly diligent consumers may keep personal journals or transaction registers that they update with detailed notes concerning each transaction. However, the information they record in their personal journals is not tied to their account information as maintained by their banking institution. Currently, payment by check is the only payment option that allows consumers to provide their own notes regarding a particular payment that will eventually be incorporated into their account statement (as visible check images available through an online banking portal, a mobile banking portal, or an account statement). For all other types of transactions, consumers have little opportunity to contribute to transaction information that will appear in their account statements or records for reference. Therefore, despite their diligence, these consumers must undertake the inconvenient task of reconciling their account statements with their personal transaction journals and saved receipts to ensure that each transaction recounted in the account statement is legitimate and is accounted for in the consumer's journal or otherwise incorporated into the consumer's budget.
The challenge is even greater for those less-diligent consumers who rely entirely on their various account statements, their memory, and an occasional saved receipt to determine their progress in maintaining a budget. These consumers have not maintained a detailed record for reference when reviewing account statements, and are at a disadvantage when attempting to reconcile expenses. Indeed, the limited information provided in the account statement, especially when combined with a spotty memory and misplaced receipts, is often insufficient to allow a consumer to properly categorize expenses or even determine if a particular expense was legitimate. Furthermore, in the event a dispute or question arises regarding a transaction, a consumer may not be able to accurately recall the specific substance of the transaction. Therefore, there remains a need for an improved system for assisting a consumer with the tracking of the consumer's transactions.